ten men charged with plotting to overthrow Sierra Leone's government in 2003 were convicted of treason

ten men charged with plotting to overthrow Sierra Leone's government in 2003 were convicted of treason and sentenced to death by hanging. Friends and relatives of the condemned men wailed and wept outside the heavily guarded court gates after the 11-man jury found the defendants guilty and the judge ordered them to the gallows. ``You will be taken from here to a place of lawful prison and thence to a place of execution and there suffer death by hanging,'' said Judge Bankole Raschid, after a court crier replaced his white jurists' wig with a black skull cap. ``May the Lord have mercy on your soul.'' The 10, including ex-army officers and rebels who fought during Sierra Leone's brutal 1991-2002 war, had 21 days to appeal. Another defendant was given 10 years in prison on a lesser, related charge. Security forces captured the men after a January 13, 2003, shootout at a military base in what prosecutors called an attempt to capture weapons for an attempt to overthrow President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah's government.